Cyclists’ feat catches coach Johari by surprise

We did not expect it to become a reality as some of our athletes were making their debuts.

Johari Nayan

THE Malaysian para cycling squad look set to surpass the 10-gold target at the Kuala Lumpur Asean Para Games.

Yesterday, the track cyclists roared to a clean sweep of all seven golds on the first day of the competition at the National Velodrome in Nilai.

Malaysia coach Johari Nayan was surprised by the achievement as track cycling is contested for the first time in the Games.

“The target was to win four golds today but we won all seven.

“Our initial target is to win six from track and four from the road team.

“We did not expect it to become a reality (to win all seven golds on the first day) as some of our athletes were making their debuts.

“The planning programme started two years ago. Some of them did not have any experience in cycling,” said Johari, who was injured in a crash involving four of his charges from the road squad while training at the Latar Highway near Rawang a week ago.

Johari, however, was quick to return to work after he was discharged from the hospital a day later.

“We are pretty sure of winning at least three golds from our male cyclists on the final day of the track competition tomorrow.

“It will be 50-50 for the women’s competition as we do not have any previous competition data to gauge the other competitors,” he said.